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Covert LT, Prinz JA, Swain-Lenz D, Dvergsten J, Truskey GA. Genetic changes from type I interferons and JAK inhibitors: clues to drivers of juvenile dermatomyositis. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2024; 63:SI240-SI248. [PMID: 38317053 PMCID: PMC11381683 DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keae082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To better understand the pathogenesis of juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), we examined the effect of the cytokines type I interferons (IFN I) and JAK inhibitor drugs (JAKi) on gene expression in bioengineered pediatric skeletal muscle. METHODS Myoblasts from three healthy pediatric donors were used to create three-dimensional skeletal muscle units termed myobundles. Myobundles were treated with IFN I, either IFNα or IFNβ. A subset of IFNβ-exposed myobundles was treated with JAKi tofacitinib or baricitinib. RNA sequencing analysis was performed on all myobundles. RESULTS Seventy-six myobundles were analysed. Principal component analysis showed donor-specific clusters of gene expression across IFNα and IFNβ-exposed myobundles in a dose-dependent manner. Both cytokines upregulated interferon response and proinflammatory genes; however, IFNβ led to more significant upregulation. Key downregulated pathways involved oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism and myogenesis genes. Addition of tofacitinib or baricitinib moderated the gene expression induced by IFNβ, with partial reversal of upregulated inflammatory and downregulated myogenesis pathways. Baricitinib altered genetic profiles more than tofacitinib. CONCLUSION IFNβ leads to more pro-inflammatory gene upregulation than IFNα, correlating to greater decrease in contractile protein gene expression and reduced contractile force. JAK inhibitors, baricitinib more so than tofacitinib, partially reverse IFN I-induced genetic changes. Increased IFN I exposure in healthy bioengineered skeletal muscle leads to IFN-inducible gene expression, inflammatory pathway enrichment, and myogenesis gene downregulation, consistent with what is observed in JDM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren T Covert
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Joseph A Prinz
- Sequencing and Genomics Technologies Core Facility, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Devjanee Swain-Lenz
- Sequencing and Genomics Technologies Core Facility, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Jeffrey Dvergsten
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - George A Truskey
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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Barthélémy F, Santoso JW, Rabichow L, Jin R, Little I, Nelson SF, McCain ML, Miceli MC. Modeling Patient-Specific Muscular Dystrophy Phenotypes and Therapeutic Responses in Reprogrammed Myotubes Engineered on Micromolded Gelatin Hydrogels. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:830415. [PMID: 35465312 PMCID: PMC9020228 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.830415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In vitro models of patient-derived muscle allow for more efficient development of genetic medicines for the muscular dystrophies, which often present mutation-specific pathologies. One popular strategy to generate patient-specific myotubes involves reprogramming dermal fibroblasts to a muscle lineage through MyoD induction. However, creating physiologically relevant, reproducible tissues exhibiting multinucleated, aligned myotubes with organized striations is dependent on the introduction of physicochemical cues that mimic the native muscle microenvironment. Here, we engineered patient-specific control and dystrophic muscle tissues in vitro by culturing and differentiating MyoD–directly reprogrammed fibroblasts isolated from one healthy control subject, three patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and two Limb Girdle 2A/R1 (LGMD2A/R1) patients on micromolded gelatin hydrogels. Engineered DMD and LGMD2A/R1 tissues demonstrated varying levels of defects in α-actinin expression and organization relative to control, depending on the mutation. In genetically relevant DMD tissues amenable to mRNA reframing by targeting exon 44 or 45 exclusion, exposure to exon skipping antisense oligonucleotides modestly increased myotube coverage and alignment and rescued dystrophin protein expression. These findings highlight the value of engineered culture substrates in guiding the organization of reprogrammed patient fibroblasts into aligned muscle tissues, thereby extending their value as tools for exploration and dissection of the cellular and molecular basis of genetic muscle defects, rescue, and repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Barthélémy
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Jeffrey W. Santoso
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Laura Rabichow
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Rongcheng Jin
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Isaiah Little
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Stanley F. Nelson
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Megan L. McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: M. Carrie Miceli, ; Megan L. McCain,
| | - M. Carrie Miceli
- Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: M. Carrie Miceli, ; Megan L. McCain,
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Santoso JW, Li X, Gupta D, Suh GC, Hendricks E, Lin S, Perry S, Ichida JK, Dickman D, McCain ML. Engineering skeletal muscle tissues with advanced maturity improves synapse formation with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons. APL Bioeng 2021; 5:036101. [PMID: 34286174 PMCID: PMC8282350 DOI: 10.1063/5.0054984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
To develop effective cures for neuromuscular diseases, human-relevant in vitro models of neuromuscular tissues are critically needed to probe disease mechanisms on a cellular and molecular level. However, previous attempts to co-culture motor neurons and skeletal muscle have resulted in relatively immature neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). In this study, NMJs formed by human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived motor neurons were improved by optimizing the maturity of the co-cultured muscle tissue. First, muscle tissues engineered from the C2C12 mouse myoblast cell line, cryopreserved primary human myoblasts, and freshly isolated primary chick myoblasts on micromolded gelatin hydrogels were compared. After three weeks, only chick muscle tissues remained stably adhered to hydrogels and exhibited progressive increases in myogenic index and stress generation, approaching values generated by native muscle tissue. After three weeks of co-culture with hiPSC-derived motor neurons, engineered chick muscle tissues formed NMJs with increasing co-localization of pre- and postsynaptic markers as well as increased frequency and magnitude of synaptic activity, surpassing structural and functional maturity of previous in vitro models. Engineered chick muscle tissues also demonstrated increased expression of genes related to sarcomere maturation and innervation over time, revealing new insights into the molecular pathways that likely contribute to enhanced NMJ formation. These approaches for engineering advanced neuromuscular tissues with relatively mature NMJs and interrogating their structure and function have many applications in neuromuscular disease modeling and drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey W. Santoso
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Xiling Li
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Arts and Letters, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Divya Gupta
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Gio C. Suh
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Eric Hendricks
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA
| | - Shaoyu Lin
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA
| | - Sarah Perry
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Arts and Letters, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Justin K. Ichida
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA
| | - Dion Dickman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Arts and Letters, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
| | - Megan L. McCain
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed:. Tel: +1 2138210791. URL:https://livingsystemsengineering.usc.edu
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Berardi E, Madaro L, Lozanoska-Ochser B, Adamo S, Thorrez L, Bouche M, Coletti D. A Pound of Flesh: What Cachexia Is and What It Is Not. Diagnostics (Basel) 2021; 11:diagnostics11010116. [PMID: 33445790 PMCID: PMC7828214 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics11010116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Body weight loss, mostly due to the wasting of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, is the hallmark of the so-called cachexia syndrome. Cachexia is associated with several acute and chronic disease states such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart and kidney failure, and acquired and autoimmune diseases and also pharmacological treatments such as chemotherapy. The clinical relevance of cachexia and its impact on patients’ quality of life has been neglected for decades. Only recently did the international community agree upon a definition of the term cachexia, and we are still awaiting the standardization of markers and tests for the diagnosis and staging of cancer-related cachexia. In this review, we discuss cachexia, considering the evolving use of the term for diagnostic purposes and the implications it has for clinical biomarkers, to provide a comprehensive overview of its biology and clinical management. Advances and tools developed so far for the in vitro testing of cachexia and drug screening will be described. We will also evaluate the nomenclature of different forms of muscle wasting and degeneration and discuss features that distinguish cachexia from other forms of muscle wasting in the context of different conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuele Berardi
- Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven Campus Kulak, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium; (E.B.); (L.T.)
- Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, REVAL, Hasselt University (UHasselt), 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Luca Madaro
- DAHFMO Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (L.M.); (B.L.-O.); (S.A.); (D.C.)
| | - Biliana Lozanoska-Ochser
- DAHFMO Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (L.M.); (B.L.-O.); (S.A.); (D.C.)
| | - Sergio Adamo
- DAHFMO Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (L.M.); (B.L.-O.); (S.A.); (D.C.)
| | - Lieven Thorrez
- Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven Campus Kulak, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium; (E.B.); (L.T.)
| | - Marina Bouche
- DAHFMO Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (L.M.); (B.L.-O.); (S.A.); (D.C.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-(6)-4976-6755/6573
| | - Dario Coletti
- DAHFMO Unit of Histology and Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (L.M.); (B.L.-O.); (S.A.); (D.C.)
- Biological Adaptation and Ageing, CNRS UMR 8256, Inserm U1164, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, Sorbonne Université, 75006 Paris, France
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Abstract
Organs-on-chips are broadly defined as microfabricated surfaces or devices designed to engineer cells into microscale tissues with native-like features and then extract physiologically relevant readouts at scale. Because they are generally compatible with patient-derived cells, these technologies can address many of the human relevance limitations of animal models. As a result, organs-on-chips have emerged as a promising new paradigm for patient-specific disease modeling and drug development. Because neuromuscular diseases span a broad range of rare conditions with diverse etiology and complex pathophysiology, they have been especially challenging to model in animals and thus are well suited for organ-on-chip approaches. In this Review, we first briefly summarize the challenges in neuromuscular disease modeling with animal models. Next, we describe a variety of existing organ-on-chip approaches for neuromuscular tissues, including a survey of cell sources for both muscle and nerve, and two- and three-dimensional neuromuscular tissue-engineering techniques. Although researchers have made tremendous advances in modeling neuromuscular diseases on a chip, the remaining challenges in cell sourcing, cell maturity, tissue assembly and readout capabilities limit their integration into the drug development pipeline today. However, as the field advances, models of healthy and diseased neuromuscular tissues on a chip, coupled with animal models, have vast potential as complementary tools for modeling multiple aspects of neuromuscular diseases and identifying new therapeutic strategies. Summary: Modeling neuromuscular diseases is challenging due to their complex etiology and pathophysiology. Here, we review the cell sources and tissue-engineering procedures that are being integrated as emerging neuromuscular disease models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey W Santoso
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Megan L McCain
- Laboratory for Living Systems Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA .,Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
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Kondash ME, Ananthakumar A, Khodabukus A, Bursac N, Truskey GA. Glucose Uptake and Insulin Response in Tissue-engineered Human Skeletal Muscle. Tissue Eng Regen Med 2020; 17:801-813. [PMID: 32200516 DOI: 10.1007/s13770-020-00242-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2019] [Revised: 01/19/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tissue-engineered muscles ("myobundles") offer a promising platform for developing a human in vitro model of healthy and diseased muscle for drug development and testing. Compared to traditional monolayer cultures, myobundles better model the three-dimensional structure of native skeletal muscle and are amenable to diverse functional measures to monitor the muscle health and drug response. Characterizing the metabolic function of human myobundles is of particular interest to enable their utilization in mechanistic studies of human metabolic diseases, identification of related drug targets, and systematic studies of drug safety and efficacy. METHODS To this end, we studied glucose uptake and insulin responsiveness in human tissue-engineered skeletal muscle myobundles in the basal state and in response to drug treatments. RESULTS In the human skeletal muscle myobundle system, insulin stimulates a 50% increase in 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake with a compiled EC50 of 0.27 ± 0.03 nM. Treatment of myobundles with 400 µM metformin increased basal 2-DG uptake 1.7-fold and caused a significant drop in twitch and tetanus contractile force along with decreased fatigue resistance. Treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) increased the magnitude of insulin response from a 1.2-fold increase in glucose uptake in the untreated state to a 1.4-fold increase after 4-PBA treatment. 4-PBA treated myobundles also exhibited increased fatigue resistance and increased twitch half-relaxation time. CONCLUSION Although tissue-engineered human myobundles exhibit a modest increase in glucose uptake in response to insulin, they recapitulate key features of in vivo insulin sensitivity and exhibit relevant drug-mediated perturbations in contractile function and glucose metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan E Kondash
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | | | - Alastair Khodabukus
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Nenad Bursac
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - George A Truskey
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
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